F1 - The Singapore Grand Prix - 25.09.11

Vettel on brink of title after Singapore Grand Prix victory
Sebastian Vettel moved to the brink of a second title by winning the Singapore Grand Prix, but Jenson Button's runner-up finish meant the German was one point shy of the championship lead he required to wrap things up for 2011.

Vettel utterly dominated the majority of the race. The Red Bull man was a second per lap faster than his pursuers at first, and though the pack closed up with a mid-race safety car after Michael Schumacher clipped Sergio Perez and was launched into a violent accident - from which he emerged unhurt - Vettel had a cushion of backmarkers behind him at the restart and was eight seconds clear again after just one lap.

McLaren driver Button started closing in with some very rapid late laps, but Vettel always appeared to have everything under control as he clinched his ninth win of the season.

Button had claimed second with a quick start, while Vettel's front row partner team-mate Mark Webber got away slowly. Lewis Hamilton challenged Webber down the inside in the second McLaren but ran out of space and fell as low as eighth, while Fernando Alonso took his Ferrari around the outside of everyone to grab third from fifth on the grid.

Webber twice passed Alonso on the road, having to get back ahead after the Ferrari reclaimed third in the first pitstops following an on-track exchange. But a bold dive into the Turn 10 chicane amid traffic on the restart lap secured Webber's third place and he pulled away thereafter.

Hamilton had a highly eventful run to fifth. He quickly recovered from being wrong-footed on the first lap but then clipped Felipe Massa while racing with the Ferrari immediately after the first stops. The McLaren picked up both wing damage and a penalty, while Massa was left with a puncture.

A fightback charge from Hamilton took him from a post-drive-through 15th to fifth in the end, helped by the safety car closing him onto the lead pack again. A string of DRS passes got him back into the top five, though having to pit for another set of tyres while those behind him did not meant Hamilton had to make a lot of his moves twice before his top five finish was secure.

Paul di Resta secured the best result of his Formula 1 career so far in sixth for Force India. A very long first stint and the ability to make his second and final stop just as the safety car came out got him ahead of Mercedes' Nico Rosberg and the second Force India of Adrian Sutil.

Massa fell to 20th following the clash with Hamilton, before clawing his way back through to salvage some points in ninth.

Perez's Sauber was undamaged in the incident with Schumacher, which happened when the Mercedes was coming back through after a pitstop, and he finished 10th.

The Singapore Grand Prix
Singapore, Singapore;
61 laps; 309.087km;
Weather: Dry.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h59:06.537
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 1.737
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 29.279
4. Alonso Ferrari + 55.449
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 1:07.766
6. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:51.067
7. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap
8. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
9. Massa Ferrari + 1 lap
10. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
12. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
13. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 2 laps
15. Senna Renault + 2 laps
16. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
17. Petrov Renault + 2 laps
18. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
19. Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps
20. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps
21. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 5 laps

Fastest lap: Button, 1:48.454

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Trulli Lotus-Renault 48
Schumacher Mercedes 29
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 10


World Championship standings, round 14:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 309 1. Red Bull-Renault 491
2. Button 185 2. McLaren-Mercedes 353
3. Alonso 184 3. Ferrari 268
4. Webber 182 4. Mercedes 114
5. Hamilton 168 5. Renault 70
6. Massa 84 6. Force India-Mercedes 48
7. Rosberg 62 7. Sauber-Ferrari 36
8. Schumacher 52 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 29
9. Heidfeld 34 9. Williams-Cosworth 5
10. Petrov 34
11. Sutil 28
12. Kobayashi 27
13. Di Resta 20
14. Alguersuari 16
15. Buemi 13
16. Perez 9
17. Barrichello 4
18. Senna 2
19. Maldonado 1

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

F1 - The Italian Grand Prix - 11.09.11

Vettel closes in on title with dominant Monza victory

Sebastian Vettel cruised to his eighth victory of the 2011 Formula 1 season as he proved that Red Bull had firmly conquered its Monza weak spot by dominating the Italian Grand Prix.

Jenson Button won a battle with Fernando Alonso for second, with Lewis Hamilton having to settle for fourth after spending much of the race trapped behind Michael Schumacher. Mark Webber - Vettel's closest challenger in the points prior to the weekend - crashed out early.

Alonso had briefly raised the Italian crowd's hopes by surging his Ferrari to the front in a spectacular start from fourth on the grid. Poleman Vettel was slow away and was attacked first by Hamilton's McLaren before Alonso appeared down the inside, briefly took to the grass and slipped ahead, with Hamilton running out of space and falling to third behind Vettel.

Carnage further back would prompt an immediate safety car. Tonio Liuzzi lost control of his HRT under braking and spun down the inside grass before slamming into Nico Rosberg's Mercedes and Vitaly Petrov's Renault in the middle of the Rettifilio. Rubens Barrichello's Williams and Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber picked up damage in the consequent traffic jam, while Bruno Senna (Renault), Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso) and Adrian Sutil (Force India) all had to trundle through the gravel in avoidance.

At the lap four restart Hamilton was caught unaware by Schumacher, who had thrust his Mercedes to fourth at the start and then grabbed third from the McLaren.

Webber was taking sixth from Button at the same time, both having lost ground at the start. But when the Red Bull attacked Felipe Massa into the first chicane a lap later, Webber ended up tagging the Ferrari into a spin and smashing his front wing, which then folded under the car and caused him to crash at the Parabolica.

The other Red Bull was faring better. Vettel was all over Alonso as soon as racing resumed, and on lap five he managed to get through into the Roggia chicane despite having put two wheels on the Curva Grande grass moments earlier as the Ferrari defended. After that, Vettel was unstoppable, storming away and holding a 15-second cushion for most of the rest of the race as he notched up yet another victory.

Alonso then came under attack from Schumacher and Hamilton for a while, but soon the latter pair were too busy with each other. The Mercedes' incredible straightline speed and some firm defending from Schumacher kept Hamilton at bay despite the Briton trying move after move.

Button caught them too, and was able to pass both in quick succession on lap 16 - taking Hamilton when he had to abruptly back off as Schumacher slammed the door shut at the Curva Grande, and then slicing down the outside of the Mercedes into Ascari.

That left Button free to chase down Alonso, who he overtook shortly after the second pitstops when the Ferrari got a poor exit from the first chicane.

Hamilton finally overtook Schumacher using the pre-Ascari DRS zone on lap 27, and then mounted his own pursuit of Alonso - catching the Ferrari on the final lap and just running out of time to try a pass.

Massa recovered from the Webber incident to take sixth behind Schumacher.

Sergio Perez looked assured of seventh on a one-stop strategy until his Sauber's gearbox failed, which meant Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso) could take the place after a strong drive from 18th on the grid.

Di Resta, Senna and Buemi recovered from their first-corner delays to complete the points-scorers.

A fine start and a safe passage through the first-lap mess saw Pastor Maldonado run as high as sixth for Williams. But he did not have the pace to stay there and slipped to 11th by the finish.

Behind the delayed Barrichello, the high attrition rate allowed Lotus duo Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli, and Virgin's Timo Glock, to take potentially useful finishes in 13th through 15th places.

RACE RESULTS

The Italian Grand Prix
Autodromo di Monza, Italy;
53 laps; 306.720km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h20:46.172
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 9.590
3. Alonso Ferrari + 16.909
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 17.471
5. Schumacher Mercedes + 32.677
6. Massa Ferrari + 42.993
7. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
8. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
9. Senna Renault + 1 lap
10. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
11. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
13. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
14. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
15. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps

Fastest lap: Hamilton, 1:26.187

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth 40
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 34
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 23
Sutil Force India-Mercedes 11
Webber Red Bull-Renault 6
D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 3
Petrov Renault 1
Rosberg Mercedes 1
Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1


World Championship standings, round 13:

Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 284 1. Red Bull-Renault 451
2. Alonso 172 2. McLaren-Mercedes 325
3. Webber 167 3. Ferrari 254
4. Button 167 4. Mercedes 108
5. Hamilton 158 5. Renault 70
6. Massa 82 6. Force India-Mercedes 36
7. Rosberg 56 7. Sauber-Ferrari 35
8. Schumacher 52 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 29
9. Petrov 34 9. Williams-Cosworth 5
10. Heidfeld 34
11. Kobayashi 27
12. Sutil 24
13. Alguersuari 16
14. Buemi 13
15. Di Resta 12
16. Perez 8
17. Barrichello 4
18. Senna 2
19. Maldonado 1

By Matt Beer
http://www.autosport.com

Rally Australia - 08 - 11 Sep 11

Mikko Hirvonen closes on Sebastien Loeb with team-assisted Rally Australia win

Mikko Hirvonen claimed Ford's first World Rally Championship victory for nine rounds in Australia, after a rally that began with rain and chaos, and ended with a flurry of team orders.

Ford ended its drought in emphatic style, with Hirvonen's team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala coming home second. The team had not won since the season-opener in Sweden, but Hirvonen's consistency in the interim meant that the Australian result brought him straight back into title contention - placing him 15 points behind Sebastien Loeb with three rallies to go.

Friday had seen heavy rain and extraordinarily slippery conditions, and at first it was Citroen duo Loeb and Sebastien Ogier who battled for victory as both Ford men made minor errors and lost time.

But after Loeb rolled and Ogier slid into a tree, Hirvonen and Latvala found themselves back in first and second - and were able to charge away from third-placed Petter Solberg (Solberg Citroen).

With Latvala almost out of mathematical title contention but Hirvonen still in with a shout, Ford had no qualms about hinting that the elder of its Finns was going to be in front by the finish whatever happened in the interim.

So while Latvala moved into the lead on Saturday, when Hirvonen lost time running first on the road, a reversal of positions was always inevitable. Sure enough, on the penultimate stage of the rally Latvala slowed significantly and dropped into second place as Hirvonen reclaimed the lead and went on to clinch the win.

"I do like this place, it's been really kind to us, but we have this victory only because of the fantastic teamwork we have done," said Hirvonen, who has now won the last three Rally Australias.

"It's a fantastic result and it's so important for Ford. Of course big thanks to Jari-Matti for slowing down on the long stage and giving me the points for the championship. Now we're back in it."

Both Citroen drivers were able to rejoin under superally for Saturday. Initially Ogier seemed to have by far the better chance of salvaging something from the event, as his charge brought him within sight of eighth place, while 11th looked to be Loeb's limit.

However Citroen decided on the final day that with Hirvonen gaining so much championship ground, it had to throw all its efforts behind Loeb - despite Ogier having started the rally second in the standings, 25 points from his team-mate.

Ogier was therefore ordered to check in late before the penultimate stage to incur a penalty, and then to park on the stage for 10 minutes. That dropped him back to finish 11th, and ensured Loeb was able to grab 10th place. The world champion then added a further three points to his tally by winning the power stage, which saw Latvala and Solberg take the second and third bonus points.

"The team made a decision because we are now under pressure from Mikko after our mistake," said Loeb. "That is the situation."

Overshadowed by the Ford and Citroen adventures, Solberg was buoyed by the pace he showed on the way to third, feeling he was back in contention after two low-key rallies.

Attrition was high from the outset, and Matthew Wilson (Stobart Ford) and Khalid Al Qassimi (Abu Dhabi Ford) were the only other WRC drivers to get through the three days unscathed. That gave them fourth and fifth places - equalling Wilson's best-ever World Rally Championship result, and Al Qassimi's highest finish to date.

Wilson's team-mates Henning Solberg and Evgeny Novikov had eventful weekends. Novikov was challenging Petter Solberg on Friday before damaging his car and having to retire. He got back to 10th under superally only to have an enormous crash on Sunday morning. Solberg ran fourth until an electrical glitch, and then made it to the end in 14th under superally despite rolling on Sunday afternoon then sustaining a double puncture on the power stage.

The WRC carnage allowed several Production class runners to finish in the overall points, led by rising star Hayden Paddon (Symtech Subaru). The New Zealand driver claimed the Production title with class victory and a superb outright sixth place, having charged back past rival Michal Kosciuszko after a turbo gremlin on Saturday. Paddon has won on all four of his Production appearances this year.

Leading finishers after SS26:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Mikko Hirvonen Ford 3h35m59.0s
2. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 14.7s
3. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 44.8s
4. Matthew Wilson Stobart Ford + 8m45.2s
5. Khalid Al Qassimi Abu Dhabi Ford + 12m33.3s
6. Hayden Paddon Symtech Subaru + 17m29.3s
7. Michal Kosciuszko Lotos Mitsubishi + 19m01.3s
8. Oleksandr Saliuk Mentos Mitsubishi + 21m08.5s
9. Benito Guerra GMA Mitsubishi + 22m48.9s
10. Sebastien Loeb Citroen + 30m02.9s

Other WRC finishers:

11. Sebastien Ogier Citroen + 30m19.4s
13. Peter van Merksteijn Van Merksteijn Citroen + 32m21.0s
14. Henning Solberg Stobart Ford + 32m23.7s
19. Ken Block Monster Ford + 42m01.9s

WRC retirements:

Evgeny Novikov Stobart Ford SS22
Daniel Oliveira Brazil Mini SS22

Leading power stage results:

Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Sebastien Loeb Citroen 2m18.1s
2. Jari-Matti Latvala Ford + 1.2s
3. Petter Solberg Solberg Citroen + 1.3s
4. Mikko Hirvonen Ford + 1.6s
5. Ken Block Monster Ford + 3.3s

http://www.autosport.com